


The Years Gone By

by UnfortunatelyObsessed



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angst, Character Death, Dean Dies, Gen, Love Confessions, M/M, Sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-15
Updated: 2018-03-15
Packaged: 2019-03-31 12:57:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13975623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnfortunatelyObsessed/pseuds/UnfortunatelyObsessed
Summary: Old is something Dean never thought he would be.





	The Years Gone By

Old.

Heh.

That's something Dean Winchester never thought he would be.

He really never thought he would have to deal with all these stupid aches and pains, things that shouldn't be popping doing so loudly.

He blamed Castiel, really.

That asshole.

Castiel spent most of his time with Dean. It had been weird, at first, when Dean discovered his first white hair and Cas still was young. It wasn't until Dean threw out his back for the first time that Castiel let his vessel show signs of age, to comfort Dean.

Neither ever mentioned it.

Sam visited a lot, called just about every day. He was married, living the apple pie life somewhere in Utah. Dean long since had decided that he wasn't the marrying kind.

His days were pretty general. He had one of those places where everything he needed, he made. Veggies (yep) from the garden, meat from the ranch. He only ever went to town to gamble a bit, using the extra money for luxuries he couldn't grow, like coffee.

Castiel had his own little beekeeping setup, too. Neither could really remember when Cas officially starting living with Dean. It was like one day Dean woke up to the smell of fresh ground coffee with a little honey mixed in, and from then on it was just the routine.

Dean had imagined so many different lives for himself but, oddly enough, never this one. Never this perfect one.

He died in his sleep.

He was 82.

The funeral was a quiet affair. Most of their friends were already dead, anyways. Cas looked at Sam's eyes only once. They were hollow.

After Dean was gone, Castiel fixed all the signs of age on his vessel. He looked younger than he had in years. He swept the house Dean had built, harvested the vegetables Dean had planted, made the bed Dean had died in.

Angels don't need to eat, and yet Cas couldn't let all of Dean's labors fall into disarray. He kept up everything, and somewhere inside he knew he was only acting like everything was okay.

Some days were really bad. On those days Cas would curl up on Dean's bed and pretend he could still smell Dean on it as he cried.

He couldn't.

It was months before he decided to leave. He woke up from yet another dream of Dean and realized he couldn't stay. It was 2am, and Cas was running down the mud-slick road to the cemetery.

Cas knew better than to expect Dean's ghost. Dean hadn't had any regrets when he died. He had made peace with himself. Cas stood in front of the tombstone that read "Dean Winchester" in chiseled words. He took a breath. And another. Finally, it dripped out of him.

"I'm in love with you."

And Cas was gone.


End file.
